Rest In Peace
Eugene Lad Krizek
12/17/1927 – 10/5/2021
Eugene Lad Krizek
December 17, 1927 – October 5, 2021
Eugene “Gene” Krizek once – actually likely many times – said sincerely that “The only thing I ever failed at was retirement.”
Such was the case upon his retirement in 1985 from a distinguished career in the White House during President John F. Kennedy’s administration, in the U.S. Congress and State Department, in addition to reaching the rank of colonel in the U.S. Air Force, when, at the age of 58, knowing he was too young to “retire,” he began work on founding a nonprofit organization to help the less fortunate around the country and around the world that came to be known as Christian Relief Services.
Gene, and his loving wife, Adeline (Addy), who was by his side for more than six decades, worked together for years benefiting nonprofit organizations, such as the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF), before putting their time and talents into the formation of Christian Relief Services, with Gene as President and Addy as Secretary/Treasurer at its first board meeting.
In the years to come, Christian Relief Services would become an umbrella organization for Running Strong for American Indian Youth® (which he co-founded with Olympic gold medalist Billy Mills), Americans Helping Americans®, Bread and Water for Africa® and several nonprofit organizations providing affordable housing for low-income families across the country.
A Family of Charities
co-Founder,
running strong for American Indian youth
Gene would tell of the moment his life was changed upon seeing the film “Running Brave,” Billy’s life story of growing up poor and orphaned on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation who had a dream to one day win an Olympic gold medal in long-distance running, and how he was determined to find Billy and together form the organization that became Running Strong.
In the more than 30 years since, through Running Strong, Gene and Billy have provided running water to tens of thousands of Native Americans on Pine Ridge and elsewhere (their first priority), as well as supplemental food boxes, school supplies, shoes, winter coats to Native children throughout Indian Country, kept Pine Ridge families warm in winter through a heating assistance program, taught families how to grow bountiful gardens in their own backyards, and much more.
founder,
Americans helping Americans
Gene founded Americans Helping Americans® to provide assistance to impoverished families living in distressed Appalachian communities after a visit to West Virginia and seeing the conditions in which our fellow Americans were living – parents struggling to feed their children and the elderly and disabled trying to get by on meager fixed incomes, many living in unsafe housing conditions.
Today, through Americans Helping Americans®, children are ensured of receiving meals when school is out for the summer, warm coats in the winter, the opportunity to attend free afterschool and summer camp programs, and those in desperate need of repairs of leaking roofs and rotting floors, handicap ramps and more, have seen those repairs made through our home rehab programs.
founder,
bread and water for Africa
Gene did not only think of those within our own country’s borders but also of those living in dire poverty around the world – especially in sub-Saharan African countries, starting with Kenya where he was made aware of the staggering number of orphaned and abandoned children with no one to rescue them from a life on the streets, which led him to found Bread and Water for Africa®.
“I have indeed been blessed to have lived a life of meaning — of achieving many of my personal goals, including helping to make a difference in the lives of so many others in need in so many ways during my exciting tenure with this fine charitable organization,” he stated at his last board meeting as president.”
